Buffett Skips Conference, Curbing Travel After Treatment

Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett, the billionaire
chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., withdrew from a scheduled
appearance at the annual Fortune magazine Most Powerful Women
conference as he recovers from treatment for prostate cancer.

“Mr. Buffett has been undergoing radiation treatment and
he just finished,” Debbie Bosanek, his assistant at Omaha,
Nebraska-based Berkshire, said in an e-mail today. “His doctors
advised him to avoid travel for at least three to four weeks
after the treatments.”

Buffett, 82, told newspaper executives at Berkshire’s Omaha
World-Herald Sept. 14 that he had completed radiation treatment
for prostate cancer and that he would be feeling side effects
for a few weeks. The billionaire said in April that he was
diagnosed with stage 1 prostate cancer and that he would undergo
two months of radiation treatment starting in July. The
diagnosis was the least severe of four stages of the disease,
which affects 1 in 8 men over 70.

The Fortune conference is scheduled for Oct. 1 through Oct.
3 in Laguna Niguel, California, and features speakers including
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd
Blankfein, former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman
Sheila Bair and Sallie Krawcheck, the former president of global
wealth and investment management at Bank of America Corp.

Buffett’s name previously appeared on the agenda. He had
attended the conference for at least the past three years.

Prostate cancer patients generally suffer from side
effects, including urinary and bowel symptoms, after radiation
that may make it difficult to travel, said Sean Collins, a
radiation oncologist at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer
Center in Washington, who isn’t involved in Buffett’s care. The
symptoms typically improve two to eight weeks after treatment,
he said in an e-mail.